Ohio Rev. Code § 4123.56

Current with legislation from 2024 received as of August 15, 2024.

Section 4123.56 - Compensation in case of temporary disability

(A) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, in the case of temporary disability, an employee shall receive sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of the employee's average weekly wage so long as such disability is total, not to exceed a maximum amount of weekly compensation which is equal to the statewide average weekly wage as defined in division (C) of section 4123.62 of the Revised Code, and not less than a minimum amount of compensation which is equal to thirty-three and one-third per cent of the statewide average weekly wage as defined in division (C) of section 4123.62 of the Revised Code unless the employee's wage is less than thirty-three and one-third per cent of the minimum statewide average weekly wage, in which event the employee shall receive compensation equal to the employee's full wages; provided that for the first twelve weeks of total disability the employee shall receive seventy-two per cent of the employee's full weekly wage, but not to exceed a maximum amount of weekly compensation which is equal to the lesser of the statewide average weekly wage as defined in division (C) of section 4123.62 of the Revised Code or one hundred per cent of the employee's net take-home weekly wage. In the case of a self-insuring employer, payments shall be for a duration based upon the medical reports of the attending physician. If the employer disputes the attending physician's report, payments may be terminated only upon application and hearing by a district hearing officer pursuant to division (C) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code. Payments shall continue pending the determination of the matter, however payment shall not be made for the period when any employee has returned to work, when an employee's treating physician has made a written statement that the employee is capable of returning to the employee's former position of employment, when work within the physical capabilities of the employee is made available by the employer or another employer, or when the employee has reached the maximum medical improvement. Where the employee is capable of work activity, but the employee's employer is unable to offer the employee any employment, the employee shall register with the director of job and family services, who shall assist the employee in finding suitable employment. The termination of temporary total disability, whether by order or otherwise, does not preclude the commencement of temporary total disability at another point in time if the employee again becomes temporarily totally disabled.

After two hundred weeks of temporary total disability benefits, the bureau of workers' compensation may schedule the claimant for an examination for an evaluation to determine whether or not the temporary disability has become permanent. A self-insuring employer shall notify the bureau immediately after payment of two hundred weeks of temporary total disability .The self-insuring employer may request that the bureau schedule the claimant for an examination to determine whether the temporary disability has become permanent.

When the employee is awarded compensation for temporary total disability for a period for which the employee has received benefits under Chapter 4141. of the Revised Code, the bureau shall pay an amount equal to the amount received from the award to the director of job and family services and the director shall credit the amount to the accounts of the employers to whose accounts the payment of benefits was charged or is chargeable to the extent it was charged or is chargeable.

If any compensation under this section has been paid for the same period or periods for which temporary nonoccupational accident and sickness insurance is or has been paid pursuant to an insurance policy or program to which the employer has made the entire contribution or payment for providing insurance or under a nonoccupational accident and sickness program fully funded by the employer, except as otherwise provided in this division compensation paid under this section for the period or periods shall be paid only to the extent by which the payment or payments exceeds the amount of the nonoccupational insurance or program paid or payable. Offset of the compensation shall be made only upon the prior order of the bureau or industrial commission or agreement of the claimant. If an employer provides supplemental sick leave benefits in addition to temporary total disability compensation paid under this section, and if the employer and an employee agree in writing to the payment of the supplemental sick leave benefits, temporary total disability benefits may be paid without an offset for those supplemental sick leave benefits.

As used in this division, "net take-home weekly wage" means the amount obtained by dividing an employee's total remuneration, as defined in section 4141.01 of the Revised Code, paid to or earned by the employee during the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters which immediately precede the first day of the employee's entitlement to benefits under this division, by the number of weeks during which the employee was paid or earned remuneration during those four quarters, less the amount of local, state, and federal income taxes deducted for each such week.

(B)

(1) If an employee in a claim allowed under this chapter suffers a wage loss as a result of returning to employment other than the employee's former position of employment due to an injury or occupational disease, the employee shall receive compensation at sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of the difference between the employee's average weekly wage and the employee's present earnings not to exceed the statewide average weekly wage. The payments may continue for up to a maximum of two hundred weeks, but the payments shall be reduced by the corresponding number of weeks in which the employee receives payments pursuant to division (A)(2) of section 4121.67 of the Revised Code.

(2) If an employee in a claim allowed under this chapter suffers a wage loss as a result of being unable to find employment consistent with the employee's disability resulting from the employee's injury or occupational disease, the employee shall receive compensation at sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of the difference between the employee's average weekly wage and the employee's present earnings, not to exceed the statewide average weekly wage. The payments may continue for up to a maximum of fifty-two weeks. The first twenty-six weeks of payments under division (B)(2) of this section shall be in addition to the maximum of two hundred weeks of payments allowed under division (B)(1) of this section. If an employee in a claim allowed under this chapter receives compensation under division (B)(2) of this section in excess of twenty-six weeks, the number of weeks of compensation allowable under division (B)(1) of this section shall be reduced by the corresponding number of weeks in excess of twenty-six, and up to fifty-two, that is allowable under division (B)(1) of this section.

(3) The number of weeks of wage loss payable to an employee under divisions (B)(1) and (2) of this section shall not exceed two hundred and twenty-six weeks in the aggregate.

(C) In the event an employee of a professional sports franchise domiciled in this state is disabled as the result of an injury or occupational disease, the total amount of payments made under a contract of hire or collective bargaining agreement to the employee during a period of disability is deemed an advanced payment of compensation payable under sections 4123.56 to 4123.58 of the Revised Code. The employer shall be reimbursed the total amount of the advanced payments out of any award of compensation made pursuant to sections 4123.56 to 4123.58 of the Revised Code.

(D) If an employee receives temporary total disability benefits pursuant to division (A) of this section and social security retirement benefits pursuant to the "Social Security Act," the weekly benefit amount under division (A) of this section shall not exceed sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of the statewide average weekly wage as defined in division (C) of section 4123.62 of the Revised Code.

(E) If an employee is eligible for compensation under division (A) of this section, but the employee's full weekly wage has not been determined at the time payments are to commence under division (H) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code, the employee shall receive thirty-three and one-third per cent of the statewide average weekly wage as defined in division (C) of section 4123.62 of the Revised Code. On determination of the employee's full weekly wage, the compensation an employee receives shall be adjusted pursuant to division (A) of this section.

If the amount of compensation an employee receives under this division is greater than the adjusted amount the employee receives under division (A) of this section that is based on the employee's full weekly wage, the excess amount shall be recovered in the manner provided in division (K) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code. If the amount of compensation an employee receives under this division is less than the adjusted amount the employee receives under that division that is based on the employee's full weekly wage, the employee shall receive the difference between those two amounts.

(F) If an employee is unable to work or suffers a wage loss as the direct result of an impairment arising from an injury or occupational disease, the employee is entitled to receive compensation under this section, provided the employee is otherwise qualified. If an employee is not working or has suffered a wage loss as the direct result of reasons unrelated to the allowed injury or occupational disease, the employee is not eligible to receive compensation under this section. It is the intent of the general assembly to supersede any previous judicial decision that applied the doctrine of voluntary abandonment to a claim brought under this section.

R.C. § 4123.56

Amended by 134th General Assembly, HB 447,§1, eff. 9/23/2022.

Amended by 133rd General Assembly, HB 81,§1, eff. 9/15/2020.

Amended by 132nd General Assembly, HB 27,§101.01, eff. 9/29/2017.

Amended by 131st General Assembly, HB 52,§1, eff. 9/29/2015.

Effective Date: 07-01-2000; 2006 SB7 10-11-2006